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EXTINCT MONSTERS 
misgiving in regard to a conclusion based on a single tooth or 
bone than that which he arrived at after a careful study of 
this specimen. Its smaller and less obvious features carried 
conviction to him against the showing of the larger and more 
catching ones. But although some naturalists for a time thought 
he had mistaken the fore for the back part of the jaw, yet his 
conclusion proved to be correct. His experience taught him that 
the less obvious points, which require searching out, frequently, 
when their full meaning has been grasped, guide to a right 
Fig. 92. — Skeleton of Coryphodon hamatus. (Restored, after Marsh.) Length 
about 6 feet. 
interpretation of the whole. “ It is as if truth were whispered,” 
he says, rather than outspoken by Nature.” 
The first additional evidence which Sir R. Owen obtained of 
the true nature of this ancient mammal was furnished by a fossil 
canine tooth brought up from a depth of a hundred and sixty feet 
out of the Plastic Clay during the operation of sinking a well in 
the neighbourhood of Camberwell, near London. This circum- 
stance caused Sir R. Owen to remind his readers of the old 
proverb, “Truth lies at the bottom of a well.” It was nearly 
three inches long, and evidently belonged to a large hoofed 
mammal. With regard to the teeth, he remarked that their broad- 
